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Everyone is guilty of it – skimming ads for pictures. But
have you ever noticed an ad because of a clever headline? Chances are, if you did, you
read it in its entirety. Wouldn’t it be nice if your ads could pack such a punch
that they would stop readers in their tracks? With these quick headline writing
tricks, your ad can have “stopping power.”

Name a
benefit – Bigger litters. Bigger profits.

Tell them
how sorry they’ll be if they don’t use your genetics, product or service –
“I wonder what the champion drive is like,” said someone who didn’t buy from
ACME Showpigs.

Make like
Snapple, and throw out some facts – Over the last decade, we’ve farrowed
more than 500 litters, and this is our best one yet.

Call-out
to your target audience – No place is as nerve-wracking as ringside – buy
your kids the best.

Make it
newsworthy – At last, we found the boar we spent years looking for.

Command
their attention – Find your seat at the ACME Showpig Sale.

Ask a
question – Who will be the first person you call when you grab the banner?

Write,
then repeat – Champion at WPX. Champion at NSS. Champion at NBS. Sensing a
pattern?

I hope these examples inspire you to have a little fun writing your
next headline. A simple sentence could determine the direction of your ad, and
help create a concept that will cause readers to take notice.

If you’re not
feeling creative, the Seedstock EDGE
staff will be happy to help you come up with a great headline – all you have
to do is ask.

For those who are itching to publish your Fall Classic
success, remember Seedstock EDGE ad
copy is due Nov. 29.As always, give the friendly folks of the Marketing & Communications
Department a call to help with your marketing needs.

I'd first like to thank everyone for making this year's Fall Classic a tremendous success. A great set of weanling and breeding hogs were well received by a huge crowd. Hats off to the breeders and buyers that make this such a great atmosphere each year. Also, a special thanks to the Empire FFA Chapter, Iowa State University Swine Interest Group, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Dr. Mike Tripp and of course Mike, Donna, Lyndol and the Stephens County Fair Staff for their hard work towards this event.I also wanted to drop a quick reminder to those exhibiting pedigreed barrows and gilts through the winter and spring months of 2013. Many of these pedigreed events have ownership deadlines in the very near future. The ownership deadline for gilts exhibiting at the Junior
Breeding Gilt Shows in San Antonio and Houston is December 1, 2012. All gilts must be recorded and transferred by December 1st for both of these events.

Be sure to have all of your information done in advance to avoid potential issues. Best of luck to all those that purchased pigs at this year's Fall Classic. On behalf of everyone at the National Swine Registry, have a great Thanksgiving and be sure to enjoy your time with family and friends!

When
recording your pigs, please keep in mind the National Swine Registry has
requirements for all purebred sires. These standards help maintain the
integrity of the breeds and ensure that proper DNA specifications have been met
on sires.

If you
artificially inseminated your sow with purchased semen, you will need to contact
the boar stud where you obtained the semen and request an AI certificate before
recording your litter. To submit the request, the stud will need to have your
2-4 letter Herdmark. If you have not been set up with a Herdmark yet, please
contact the National Swine Registry. Once you request this, the boar stud will
issue your AI certificate directly to the NSR. When you turn in the litter
registration application, NSR will use your Herdmark to match the AI certificate with the litter.

When
requesting an AI certificate, please remember to ask the boar stud for the
sire’s registration number and ear notch. You will need this information to
record your litter.The use of AI
certificates helps ensure that litters are being recorded out of the correct
sires. Also, since the boar stud is required to provide a ship date from when
they sold the semen to the breeder, it helps ensure litters are being recorded
with the accurate farrowing dates.

If you use
your own boar for breeding within your herd, you will need to make sure he
meets the proper DNA sire requirements. The NSR requires all sires to have a
DNA card banked, and all sires used must test negative for the Stress gene. To do
this, simply order a DNA card from the NSR and fill out the boar’s ear
notch and registration number on the card. You may use blood or semen as DNA
samples. After putting blood or semen on the blotter card, let it dry for 24 hours
and send the card back to NSR. You can find more information by visiting
the DNA sire requirement
page of our website.

Following
these requirements helps ensure the integrity of the Yorkshire, Hampshire,
Landrace, and Duroc breeds.

The National Swine Registry just completed a trade mission
to the Animal Farming Ukraine show in Kiev. With respect to other countries,
Ukraine is not a large swine producer, but in recent years there has
been a fair amount of investment in new technology for the Ukrainian swine
industry, particularly in genetics. Because of this, the National Swine
Registry and its exporting members have focused on creating market share within
the genetics market. Unfortunately, at this time there is not an established
protocol for live swine between the U.S. and Ukraine; however, close to 3,000
doses of frozen semen have been purchased from Swine Genetics International and
shipped to Ukraine in the last few years.

During the show, officials from the U.S. Embassy in Kiev
stopped by to discuss the current constraints on live animal exports to
Ukraine. Overall the meeting was promising and hopefully there will be movement
towards a resolution in the near future. The FAS staff in Kiev has been very
helpful in the establishment of the semen protocol and progress towards a
live animal protocol. If a protocol is established, there are some great
opportunities for U.S. purebred genetics in Ukraine.